Mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, and similar portable electronic devices that have telecommunications capabilities may include at least one memory module, such as but not limited to a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), or a Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM). Any such module may be referred to herein as a memory module. Identifying information associated with the mobile device, identifying information associated with the user of the mobile device, user account information, and other device-related and/or user-related information may be stored in the memory module. Some memory modules may be removable cards, and other memory modules may be embedded in the circuitry of the mobile device.
Mobile devices that communicate according to the global system for mobile communications (GSM) wireless communication protocol or according to the long-term evolution (LTE) wireless communication protocol typically use SIM cards. Devices that communicate according to the code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication protocol or according to the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) wireless communication protocol typically do not use SIM cards.